Kitaro (Gegege no Kitaro) review

“Gegege no Kitaro” is a long-running series in Japan, appearing first in manga form and then in many different incarnations of anime at sporadic intervals since the 1960s. Usually once a decade or so a new Gegege animated series comes out in Japan and recaptures the imaginations of children with its oddball cast of yokai (monster) characters and somewhat scary moral lessons about things like protecting nature and not disturbing ancient shrines. Humans that act like jerks in the manga and cartoons usually meet a pretty horrendous fate at the hands of the yokai that aren’t as sympathetic as the title character. In contrast, the 2007 live-action movie version, now going by the shortened international title of Kitaro, is not nearly as graphic or even mildly scary. It’s a fun movie geared toward kids, with none of the plot elements really seeming particularly consequential. Fans of the original series usually hate it with a passion for that very reason, but people who have no predetermined ideas of what it should be may be able to find some enjoyment in the special effects and silly comedic elements laced throughout.

Kitaro (Eiji Wentz) is a yokai whose parents both died before he was born. Actually, to be more accurate he crawled out of his mother’s dead-and-buried corpse and emerged from her grave, but obviously the movie doesn’t get too in-depth in that sort of explanation. In order to protect Kitaro, his father gathered up what little life essence he had left and emerged as a single walking, talking eyeball called Medama Oyaji. Back-story is kept to a minimum, so by the time the film begins he is living in a tree house with other yokai, trying to remain as unseen to humans as possible. However, one day Kitaro receives a letter from a little boy named Kenta Miura (Ruka Uchida) begging for his help to get rid of the ghosts haunting his apartment complex. Kitaro decides to investigate the situation, and sure enough he finds a group of mischievous yokai tormenting the residents of the complex, working under the orders of Nezumi Otoko (literally “Rat Man"). Rat Man is a shifty, selfish yokai who’s always looking for a way to make a quick buck, so when a land developer offered him cash to force people out of the apartment complex he jumped at the chance.

Rat Man’s greed once again gets the better of him when he falls through a hole in his house and lands in an underground cavern where the fox spirits live. The fox spirits have been given the task of guarding a powerful magic stone for hundreds of years, but Rat Man just sees the potential for money. The next day he tries to sell it to the local pawn shop and gets 5,000 yen (about 50 bucks) for all his effort. When Kenta’s dad enters the shop, desperate to earn a little cash for his struggling family, his greed triggers the evil within the stone and it possess him. Under its control he steals it and runs off, eventually meeting up with Kenta and making him swear to hold on to it and not tell anyone else about it, even his older sister Mika (Mao Inoue). Kenta is excited to be entrusted with such a seemingly important secret, so he’s determined to fulfill his end of the bargain at all costs. Unfortunately his father gets arrested for the theft and investigators start searching their home for the stolen stone. Suddenly a strange man shows up, claiming to be Kenta and Mika’s long-lost uncle from Brazil. Mika buys into his story quickly, mostly because he managed to get the police off their backs, but Kenta knows something is fishy about him. The next day while Mika is at school Kenta is proven right when the uncle finally reveals himself as a fox spirit and kidnaps Kenta; having recently decided that instead of protecting the stone the fox spirits should use it against humans and yokai alike. Kitaro shows up at Mika’s school to warn her about what’s happened and the two of them fly off to save Kitaro on Ittan-Momen, a flying yokai that looks like a long flowing sheet of cotton. They arrive just in the nick of time to save Kenta, and with the equally timely help of Kitaro’s feline friend Neko Musume (Rena Tanaka) they all get out safely.

The joy of victory is short-lived, however, because Mika receives word that her father has suddenly died of a strange illness at the police station. Later while discussing the possible whereabouts of the stone (Kenta still refuses to admit any knowledge of it) Kitaro and his friends are surrounded by yokai police at his treehouse. Apparently Kitaro was blamed for the theft of the gem, and at his trial he is quickly found guilty of the crime thanks to the sworn testimony of Rat Man. Suddenly Kitaro’s friend Sunakake Baba (Shigeru Muroi) drums up a quick diversion with her powers and Kitaro escapes with the help of her swarm of crows. The court in turn holds both her and Medama Oyaji prisoner and gives Kitaro until midnight to bring back the gem or they would both be subject to 500 years of imprisonment in a boiling cauldron.

Kitaro still believes that Kenta knows the whereabouts of the stone and tells him that he can grant him one final visit with his dad in the world of the afterlife if he promises to tell him where it is. Kenta agrees, and with the help of a powerful psychic yokai named Wanyudo and his old friend Konaki Jiji they all go off on the trip between dimensions. Unfortunately the fox spirits hitched a ride too, and it’s up to Kitaro to protect the stone which was actually in Kenta’s backpack the entire time.

Kitaro clocks in at about 100 minutes, but only about 70 of that is spent on the central plot. The rest of the film consists mostly of funny scenes with Rat Man or showing off some of the weirdness of the other yokai. Although pretty generic in its plot development and completely laid back in its attempt to push any sort of tension on the viewer, the film works as a general introduction to the Gegege no Kitaro world—at least this kinder, gentler version of it. It properly sets up future movies in the series like 2008’s Kitaro and the Millenium Curse, which appears from the trailers to have far more “big stuff” going down in it. Acting varies wildly throughout. Eiji Wentz has such a subdued take on Kitaro that you have to wonder if that’s a conscious decision on his part or just inexperience as an actor rearing its ugly head. In contrast, Mao Inoue busts out genuine emotion at the drop of a hat and steals quite a few scenes, while Yo Oizumi completely nails his goofy rat-like persona. All in all, if you’re willing to give up any previous experience with the Gegege no Kitaro world and accept that this particular incarnation is a silly fantasy movie completely appropriate for 8 year olds and up you’ll probably enjoy it a lot more than those who vehemently prefer yokai that melt people’s faces.

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Availability: US distributor BCI Eclipse will be releasing Kitaro on region 1 DVD on 8/28/2008. Check here for more info on the release.

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